Friday, September 17, 2010

Presents from Pearl

Over the summer I had the opportunity for a little treasure hunt. You see, after my Great Aunt Pearl passed away, my parents and my youngest brother spent several weekends in Montreal packing up her belongings and readying her home for sale. Pearl's husband Ford had passed away several years before and they didn't have any children...however Pearl was a school teacher all her life and still maintained her classic primary printing style right to the end.

She was sweet, caring, lovely and downright chatty. I always enjoyed my visits to her well-organized home. What my parents discovered after she died was that she was incredibly sentimental, too. She saved everything, including the $20 bills that Ford gave her on her birthdays "to go out and buy herself something nice." I am pretty certain he never knew that she carefully wrote the date on the money, then tucked it secretly away with all of the other $20's he'd gifted her. My mom discovered them all rolled together and held with an elastic band. Awww.

Amongst the boxes of household goods that were moved to my parents storage, I discovered Pearl's sewing supplies. I wasn't aware that she was a busy sewist, but perhaps she enjoyed mending and making the odd skirt years ago. She sure had a big supply of seam tape.

See the tin in the centre...did you know Scotch tape used to come in tins? There were plenty of vintage snaps, needles, buttons and hook/eye sets, too.

I also found these killer hem clips. They are super strong and may come in hand for D's new jeans later this weekend.

I've never used seam tape before...can someone please enlighten me as to how this sheer ribbon is used in garment sewing? Ariane recently used some to embellish an adorable pin cushion, so that is one great new use I may try. {edited to add: Ariane is having a sweet giveaway to celebrate her 300th post, so head on over there and win one of her 5 awesome prizes!}

I also chose 3 sweet teacup & saucer sets from Pearl's collection of one-ofs. I have several from B's mom's collection as well. I like to use them sometimes when my stitching friends come over so we can feel all English and proper.

Have a great weekend everyone...I'll be at retreat for the day tomorrow. The lasagnes are out of the oven so I must go pack up my project to work on. I'll be piecing my blocks for the Fat Quarterly Quiltalong.....I am excited to see that lovely Hunky Dory fabric come together in scrappy squares.

10 comments:

I love all your vintage items from your Great Aunt. They are just lovely. I really love those hem clips. I've never sean those before. They look really cool. Thanks for adding my giveaway to your post. :)

As I understand it, the hem tape helps when you are hemming a fuller skirt, by attaching the tape to the hem, and then the hem tape to the body of the skirt it is easier to ease in fullness. And also since it is thinner, it easier to hem by hand so that it doesn't show. You have lots of great colors!

How lovely to inherit your aunt's sewing supplies! The seam bindings (however they are supposed to get used) looks like a piece of modern art.-)I have received your package, Krista, and thank you soooo much! I have already looked through the magazine and showed my whole family your pattern and picture. Both the Lutradur sheets and sugar free chocolate will be enjoyed for sure.-) Thanks again!

How lovely to have these trasures from your Aunt!! Sadly most of these treasures are familiar.. I guess that makes me vintage too!!Wendz and Badlandquilts are correct in their understanding of the uses for seam tape. I've never seen those hem clips before though - they rock!! There must be a quilting application.....

I like to use rayon hemming tape the way Martha Stewart does! It is wonderful to use for tying packages instead of ribbon! It adds kind of a vintage look to the package! It comes in such wonderul colors and I love to use plain craft colored paper for the wrapping.

About Me

Hi there! I'm a geologist by training but a wife, mom and quilter by choice. I live, sew, walk, bake, take photos and love life in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. Email me krista(dot)hennebury(at)shaw(dot)ca